Obesity - Research Article from Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence

Term describing a condition where the ratio of body fat to total body mass is higher than accepted norms.

Obesity is a relative term used to describe the condition where the ratio of body fat, which is measurable, to total body mass is higher than the accepted norm. {Obesity and overweight are often used interchangeably, but their technical definitions are different. Overweight refers to an excess of body weight that includes all tissues—fat, bone, and muscle. Obesity refers specifically to an excess of body fat.) Body fat is about 15% of total body mass for the normal adult male and about 20-25% for the normal adult female. A general rule of thumb is that an individual is probably obese when his or her weight exceeds the maximum weight on standardized height and weight charts by more than 20%. However, during childhood and adolescence, when the body is growing and...